Wonderful Wind

Yesterday the Wind Gods smiled on my wife and I hugely serving up about 2 hours of strong northerly winds. While a monohull sailboat took shelter along the leeward shore and fishermen scurried for the safety of the boat ramp, we rode the strong winds on our Gorge Gear (small sinker boards and small sails) until the wind deteriorated into simply sailing winds.

Any wind this time of year typically associates with thunderstorms; however, yesterday's outstanding wind followed a stronger-than-expected cold front sweeping down out of NoDak. And, sweep down it did blowing hard, the kind of wind we used to take for granted when we lived in the Pacific Northwest and sailed Da Gorge frequently. You know, the kind that you can hook in, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Recorded at the local airport the NWS reported yesterday's wind:

Pierre Regional Airport
2pm N 20 G 25
3pm N 31 G 40
4pm N 36 G 44
5pm N 25 G 33

Since we live on Okobojo Creek, an arm of Lake Oahe, a quick glance out our picture window confirms sailable conditions and a short drive to Cow Creek, a couple miles as the crow flies, puts us in excellent rigging and sailing conditions. It doesn't get any better than this, sailing strong winds right in your own backyard.

Strong Gorge-worthy winds in central SoDak in the middle of the summer are nearly as rare as a 60 degree day in the middle of winter -- it can happen but not very often. However, this July alone I've sailed my little 8 foot Open Ocean Trifin board 4 times and might get another day tomorrow if the forecast holds.

Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny and hot, with a high near 93. Breezy, with a southeast wind 11 to 14 mph increasing to between 20 and 23 mph. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph.

If it does I'll let you know all the details and might even shoot some video.